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quote:Im moving to London in a few months, and im in search of work oportunities (m looking forward to work my rear end off so i can save up). I was thinking in going for dog walking, since i've done some in my city. I would like some advice on it, information on current employment conditions in London and on the highest paying jobs i could get (non qualified). Afer a year and a half of saving up, and almost two months of living in London, I can happily say I'm established and living merrily under London's grey skies  Before I start babbling about my experience, I want to really thank all goons who stopped by and gave their advice. You played your part in the development of my plan, and I appreciate your help So... there were many reasons for me moving to London. Mainly because of acting, but you could also count in my passion for history, my love of rain, the fact that my country (Argentina) is a chaotic shitstorm, etc. Before coming here, I had two main objectives that were changing thanks to your input. First one and most important was to get my German passport, and the second one was, of course, money. Thanks to goon input I went from thinking about moving with about 2000 U$S to moving with about £3500. In the end, I did spend less than half of that amount to settle in, but you can never go wrong with just going with more money, right? A good recommendation for me to goons that want to move here or, I guess, anywhere would be to move with return tickets in hand, and for those return tickets to be "open" to date change, so you can adjust your return to ASAP if you gently caress up. Until the time you settle, get your paycheck, and are able to sustain yourself, this whole thing is just an experiment. Once I was here, I knew that my objectives were clear; get a NINO, get a bank account, get a job (that's actually the order in which I got them). The NINO was quite easy to get, if you can legally work here, you get it. Just be sure to call and book your appointment as soon as possible, since it can take a while before they give it to you. The bank account was, for me, the hardest. The whole "proof of address" thing is your main problem. Basically, to open a bank account you need something to prove that you are living in the UK, but it can't be a proof of address sent to a hostel. I went to a Lloyds branch near me to get mine, the first time they asked for that proof of address, I didn't have one, and they rejected me. The second one, I went with a proof of address, and (at the same branch) they didn't ask for it >_> On getting a job, many people in this thread told me it would take ages. In my experience though, I moved here with an interview lined up to work at a pub. In the span of one month, I worked at the pub for a week, didn't like it, changed to a different job at a callcentre, and then moved to a much better project within the same callcentre. I'm currently earning about £1350 p/m after taxes, and it works out perfectly for me. The main two expenditures you'll have in London are: 1) Rent 2) Commute I cannot stress this enough, if you can do it, MOVE AT WALKING DISTANCE FROM YOUR JOB. It will not only save you a lot of money, but you will not have to use the tube, which can get pretty tiring if you do it everyday. Commuting is expensive as hell and you should avoid it if possible. It's worth it to move near your job even if rent is higher, in my opinion. Regarding rent, you'll be sharing a flat/house with other people. I basically set my priorities as; 1) I definitely won't share a room 2) I won't pay more than £560 a month for a room. I used only spareroom.com and found a room pretty fast. The fact that you are new in town and that you will need to rent a room ASAP gives you an advantage over other people that might just be looking for the same room to move in a while, so do make sure you set your priorities and don't sign a long term contract without a short term break clause (or anything that allows you to move out in the short term). My contract is for a year, but has a break clause after 5 months. I'm not sure if that's short, medium, or long term for most people here but I consider that a good deal. So, I got a job at Canary Wharf and moved to Poplar, just 10 blocks away from work. Food, luckily, is quite cheap compared to rent and commute expenses, but don't just eat cheap because you can. Make sure you eat well, it's one of the most important considerations you should have. I'm eating seafood, salads, meat, having my breakfast, drinking juice, etc. for about £150 a month, and I'm quite happy with what I eat. Just try to avoid eating out. Luckily, I can't give an advice on alcohol and expenditures related to it since I don't drink, but after working at a pub, and seeing the same people coming day after day for drinks, I can figure that some, or many people who do drink let go of big chunks of their salary on booze, so... yay me!  As for how I am doing, I got into a pretty chilled out call centre that only recruits creatives (actors, filmmakers, musicians, etc.) and that has this weird way of scheduling your work hours, in which you can choose when you come to work, and you can leave immediately if you get called for an audition. The pay is good (at least for me), the networking side of it is great, and the job is not really stressful. As an ending note, I think that there's nothing more valuable here than your connections. Network, network, network; every big achievement of my stay here so far has been due to getting in touch with people and learning important information. Stay connected! That's that for today. Eventually, I might get back to you on how's the adventure going. I thank you all once more!!! Yggdrassil fucked around with this message at 11:08 on Aug 12, 2015 |
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Feb 20, 2015 17:55
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You might've been better of posting this in the England LAN thread. However, since you've made the thread, why do you want to save up money in London that you couldn't do somewhere cheaper elsewhere in the UK? Rent in London is around £1.4k per month and minimum wage is £6.50 if you're over 21, so unless you're dog walking every hour of the day I don't think you'll be able to make any savings. You can get cheaper rent if you share a room and there's bunk beds or if you go further out, but transport is expensive in London and if you're dog walking you'll have to go back and forth to the richy rich areas. Just about every unskilled job you can get pays around the same and most will be on a zero-hours contract, i.e. your employer can give you as many or as little hours as they like. Also bear in mind that a lot of companies that would have employed people for more casual or unskilled roles are now using free workers from the government or 'apprentices' who are paid a fraction of the minimum wage, so they're a lot less of them than there used to be. Also depending on where you're from you may not be eligible or may not be eligible until a certain number of months have passed for things like housing benefit, which a lot of people in these jobs use to stop themselves from starving (this is not hyperbole). This post is not meant to be a deluge of negativity, but it is tough for many people to make ends meet in the UK at the moment and it's better you go to London with your eyes wide open about what might be waiting for you.
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Feb 20, 2015 20:25
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Consider squatting. £1.4k is a high average, but even if you're living in a shared house in a lovely area you'll still be paying £700-900 per month
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Feb 20, 2015 21:13
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is this real
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Feb 20, 2015 21:47
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because im reading you want to be saving, in london, walking dogs.
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Feb 20, 2015 21:48
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Rolled Cabbage posted:You might've been better of posting this in the England LAN thread. However, since you've made the thread, why do you want to save up money in London that you couldn't do somewhere cheaper elsewhere in the UK? I'll try posting in that thread, thanks! Im going to London because the drama school i'll be attending to is located there. I do have some experience in customer service at a pretty important hotel (and a recommendation letter from there) so that was another option. Im fully aware of the cost of living, since i've done my research. Still, it is nice to be able to talk to people from the UK about this. Im moving there with a German passport, by the way.
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Feb 20, 2015 21:55
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Yggdrassil posted:I'll try posting in that thread, thanks! Im going to London because the drama school i'll be attending to is located there. I do have some experience in customer service at a pretty important hotel (and a recommendation letter from there) so that was another option. Im fully aware of the cost of living, since i've done my research. Still, it is nice to be able to talk to people from the UK about this. Hotels can be a good option because they often come with free accommodation. But you would struggle to fit that around a school schedule, and it will be easier to find outside London. Please tell me you have another means of supporting yourself while there, and weren't planning on trying to support yourself in London by working part time in between classes.
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Feb 20, 2015 23:12
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Hotels can be a good option because they often come with free accommodation. But you would struggle to fit that around a school schedule, and it will be easier to find outside London. Please tell me you have another means of supporting yourself while there, and weren't planning on trying to support yourself in London by working part time in between classes. I've done some freelancer design in the past, so i could also resort to that, thou it all depends on my course's schedule. By the way, i was not talking about drama school -im talking about acting courses and training, since i've already gone through drama school at my home country. I understand drama school has a pretty thight schedule of about 8-10 hours a day, but this is not what im getting into.
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Feb 20, 2015 23:56
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Yggdrassil posted:I've done some freelancer design in the past, so i could also resort to that, thou it all depends on my course's schedule. ...you have no idea what you are getting into. Hint: it will not be freelance design work.
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Feb 21, 2015 02:34
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oliwan posted:...you have no idea what you are getting into. Hint: it will not be freelance design work. Actually i do have an idea, and i dont mind working shifts at restaurants, bars, or doing any kind of low pay job. I've done those and im sure i'll be doing that for many years. I was trying to get info regarding any job opportunities that i might be able to squeeze to save up. I asked for dog walking and hotel work because i've done that and it's more or less well paid here. I live in Argentina -.-
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Feb 21, 2015 03:50
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I live in London and only moved here when I could guarantee I could afford it. I first came here as a student so I had my loans to pay for housing, and then I came back only once I had a job lined up. My landlord required proof of income before I could rent my flat; do you have somewhere to stay lined up? How will you pay for it? I really hope it works out for you but to be honest without anything definite set up and no qualifications it'll be tough to get by. You'll likely be on minimum wage jobs, and considering rent would be £600+ a month you'd struggle. If you have general questions about working in London I can try and help though. I live in East London and work in Westminster, so I'd say my commute is about 45 mins total which seems fairly standard. Travel with an Oyster card is quite cheap, I think my Zone 1-3 travel pass costs about £125 a month, which is OK considering you can use the tube/bus any other time. If you can, cycling is a great way to save money. Westminster is a nice place to work although like all of Zone 1 the cafes/pubs/etc are getting really expensive so if you want to save money I'd suggest bringing your own food for lunch and not drinking a ton each night with coworkers. Lady Gaza fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 10:27
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Why are you attending a drama school in the UK?
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Feb 21, 2015 14:36
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Yggdrassil posted:Actually i do have an idea, and i dont mind working shifts at restaurants, bars, or doing any kind of low pay job. I've done those and im sure i'll be doing that for many years. I was trying to get info regarding any job opportunities that i might be able to squeeze to save up. I asked for dog walking and hotel work because i've done that and it's more or less well paid here. It's cool that you are willing to work odd jobs, but the problem is that there are no jobs. Well, I guess there are jobs, but there are also thousands and thousands of people wanting those jobs. You might, might get a minimum wage job, but it will take you so many hours to make anything resembling enough money to eat and drink, let alone have a social life, let alone save, that you will be frustrated beyond belief. London is one of the most expensive places in the world, it's brutal to live there if you don't have a (very) high paying job. I have friends who are both full time teachers, living in Brixton, and they are absolutely broke all the time, living a normal life. They feel very privileged being able to sometimes go out for a coffee and go out to the cinema. What I'm saying is: be wary. London is not a place you can go to on the fly, thinking to get a job waiting tables or walking dogs, let alone do 'freelance design work'. And it's probably the worst place in the world if you are trying to save money.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:37
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Having lived in London for about 5 years, I would agree with the general sentiment in this thread. Its a city that rips people off especially the ones on low salaries. Housing and longer distance transport are really bad value for money. Go for somewhere that has some jobs and provides a decent living standard. Fun you can have in most cities with the right mentality. I managed to buy an apartment and then its alright.
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Feb 21, 2015 16:04
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Check out this fucken Land Baron
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Feb 21, 2015 16:40
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Lady Gaza posted:I live in London and only moved here when I could guarantee I could afford it. I first came here as a student so I had my loans to pay for housing, and then I came back only once I had a job lined up. My landlord required proof of income before I could rent my flat; do you have somewhere to stay lined up? How will you pay for it? Im moving there with a friend, so we would share rent. We'll probably be staying at a hostel until we can get into a flat. I would like to save money by cycling, but that will depend on where i'll work. Nowadays, i have a 90 minute commute to my workplace -and im used to the lovely Buenos Aires transportation service. I also don't drink alcohol and never go out, so i have almost zero "going out" expenses.
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Feb 22, 2015 13:08
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Your best bet is probably waiting tables somewhere nice. At a decent City (as in the financial district) food pub you will make £7 an hour wages plus maybe another £3 an hour service charge plus cash tips. Share a flat out in East London and work 40 hours a week and you might just survive and have a little spare. Maybe forgo the flat and look for someone to take you in as a lodger. Living in a spare room in someone's house is likely to be cheaper than sharing a flat and there's likely no bills either that way. Of course you might not get a job that'll pay £10 an hour reliably and give 40 hours a week. More likely is 20 - 30 hours a week at £7 an hour. Good luck affording rent on that, let alone food and travel.
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Feb 22, 2015 13:51
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Yggdrassil posted:Im moving there with a friend, so we would share rent. We'll probably be staying at a hostel until we can get into a flat. I would like to save money by cycling, but that will depend on where i'll work. Nowadays, i have a 90 minute commute to my workplace -and im used to the lovely Buenos Aires transportation service. I also don't drink alcohol and never go out, so i have almost zero "going out" expenses. Is your friend already there with a flat? If not and you both went to an estate agent together without a current address or a job I highly doubt you'd get a flat. As Masonity suggested, try to get a room in a flatshare. Maybe it's because you haven't given us a lot of information, but it really doesn't seem like you have a concrete plan regarding your move. It reads to me like you're going to move to one of the most expensive cities in the world, without a job lined up or an address, and try and find an unskilled minimum wage job in a market where you'll be competing with thousands of other people. I don't want to be a downer, there might be something else you haven't told us that'll help you succeed, but it doesn't sound like a plan for success I'm afraid. Am I right that you want to go to drama school after saving up for a while? Wouldn't it make sense to save money where you currently live and then move here once you've been accepted for a place?
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Feb 22, 2015 14:32
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I've known a few people have some success with Live-In Security jobs while they study. Investing in property in London is a solid favourite for russian/chinese/whoever investors, so they buy up houses with the intention of sitting on them as a commodity. Keeping houses empty long-term is a pain though in terms of making sure squatters don't move in, and borough councils are starting to crack down on 'buy to leave' investing, so they skirt around this by letting people live in them comparatively cheaply (anecdotally its like ~£80 a week rent). The idea being that having full time residents will deter people from breaking in. I'm not sure on the specifics of it for foreign students though. Your best bet would be to google for live in security london and shoot off some emails to the companies who operate here. I think they have to prioritise Key Services workers (ambulance, fire crews etc) but it doesn't hurt to ask.
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Feb 22, 2015 14:48
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From Argentina with a German passport?   But seriously dude, if your plan is to "live in hostels" until you find a place, you're in for a real treat.
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Feb 22, 2015 16:43
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Im not going to drama school, no. I'll be taking acting classes. We'll be staying at whatever we can find for the lowest price possible until we get a job. Recommendations on accomodation and our best options would be very appreciated. Then, after we get a job, we would start looking for a flat or a share, depending on our budget.
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Feb 23, 2015 01:39
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Yggdrassil posted:Im not going to drama school, no. I'll be taking acting classes. It's like you're reading what people are telling you and metaphorically sticking your fingers in your ears going "la la la, i will still be able to do this, just tell me WHERE i should look for cheap accommodation and high paying shift work already!" I've lived in London for 28 of my 31 years. I'm a small business owner in a rather affluent area in SE London, I just about make minimum wage and live in a shared flat in a room smaller than the average prison cell. I have seen degree holders job search for 2+ years (not post grad jobs, but shift work / bar work / retail / paper rounds / shoe shining / literally anything!) and still be unemployed living off of measly benefits and only surviving because of the grace of their parents. You will find road blocks every step of the way here, if you plan to just land and rock up at a hostel with all your worldly belongings, no bank account, no job. Well, then you're gonna trust whoever else is in said hostel not to steal from you for the many, MANY months you may be there before finding gainful employment. When you do start interviewing you're gonna be competing with tens, if not hundreds of thousand of unemployed and better educated / qualified people than you. Should you some how get one of these jobs then you're gonna need a bank account for your employer to pay in to, to get a decent one of them you need a permanent living address (I'm not sure they'll accept a hostel as a living address), which starts a nice catch 22 scenario where you cant get an address without the job, you cant get the job without a bank account, and you cant get a bank account without an address. Basically, without having a close friend already living in London willing to put you up in a spare room and allow you to get some kind of papertrail going that's gonna be pretty drat hard to over come. Your average bar work will see you doing just around 20 hours a week, normally on a zero hour contract and never more than part time hours so that you don't get any decent employment benefits. Hotels might be a good place to look, but unless you have some real qualifications you'll probably be overlooked for those with plenty of them as well as a service record of customer service experience, but again, you'd probably still be on the above contract and as previously stated, you'll be out bid by the 'government programs' which is pretty much giving big corporations slave labour. If you manage to get a bank account, a job, and then start looking for more permanent accommodation then you're gonna be poo poo out of luck with any estate agents, no credit history means a 6month downpayment (remember where average rent is about 1k a month inner city, that's £6k for a downpayment). Of course you could try private renting, they'll probably want a 2 month down payment and a ton of personal references and come with zero security that an estate agent provides. Which really leaves your only option as being a tenant in someone else's house, they'll still want a deposit but you'll be looking at around 500 a month, bills included for a tiny single bedroom, shared bathroom and kitchen. The average wage on those zero hour contract jobs that you're looking for, you'll make around 600-750 a month. Take off your travel expenses, food, little personal luxuries and you'll see why we're saying you wont be saving anything here. Let alone paying for these acting classes you're talking about. This city will beat you down hard, it is soley designed to have the working class serve the upper class, you're paid just enough to afford to work and not a penny more. Unless you come from wealth, inherit some financial stability, have some sought after skills and qualifications then you're pretty much hosed out of living here with any plan to thrive. Even people born and raised here that move to another city in the UK have a hard time getting back inside the M25, it's just too hard to come up with the money to get started and then gamble on getting a job before whatever little money you have burns up. So yeah, in summary, unless you have about £10k in the bank already, a willing friend to act as a living address for you, a job already lined up, and many other things, this is quite the pipe dream you have going on.
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Feb 23, 2015 14:01
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Listen, people here aren't trying to poo poo on your dreams. They are just trying to give you a little dose of reality. You're acting defensively and being very cagey about the details of your trip, which suggests to me you have basically no idea and are just winging it. What it sounds like is you are flying over to London with a friend to attend some courses. You'll live in a cheap hostel temporarily while you find a job, and also taking supplementary income with freelance design/dogwalking. Meanwhile you'll be attending the courses, the timetable of which you have apparently no clue about. Once all that is achieved, you'll move into a cheap flat with your friend and hopefully cycle to work. What level of savings do you have already? What are you bringing with you in terms of possessions? How long are you prepared to live in a dormitory for? The reality is you'll find it nearly impossible to get dog walking jobs, or getting freelance design work. The best you can hope for is a minimum wage or close to it job, and it could be weeks before you find one. It also has to be flexible to fit in with your courses, which almost certainly fall in your standard 9-5 working week. Living in the shittiest and cheapest hostel will probably cost about £7 p/d, that's a dorm room with like 5-11 other people usually. They won't usually have proper cooking equipment, so that will mean you can't live off the cheapest kind of bulk food, but there may be soup kitchens or foodbanks available if you're lucky. I would still budget in about £5 for food daily. If your courses aren't local, you may have to end up paying £5 p/d for Tube/bus travel as well. There are resources to buy used bicycles in London. If I were you, I would immediately seek out Argentinian cafes/restaurants, because your nationality is an 'in' and your Spanish fluency seems to be just about your only asset, other than some previous hospitality experience. If you're attractive, that will be a help to you in getting the sort of waiting staff jobs I'm talking about. Harsh but true. Best case scenario is you get the job and it's local. If you want to rent with your friend, your friend also needs to have managed to find a job to make it work. I guarantee you 100% that it is very, very difficult to get cheap rent in London, especially on short notice. Many people arrange renting many months in advance. People moving to London have often sorted their accommodation out long before they ever arrive. That isn't the case for you. You will be lucky to get somewhere cheap and conveniently located even if you look for hours every single day. Competition is fierce, just like it will be for getting any jobs advertised online. That's why I would recommend going to some Argentinian, or even just Spanish speaking places in person. Even after all this, and assuming you get a reasonable rent, work 40 hours per week, you will not be saving much money at all, even if you live extremely frugally. You will always end up spending more than you thought on paper. It won't be too great for your health, and you'll have no social life. Good luck! e: oh look, another person who agrees that you seem woefully underprepared Jeza fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Feb 23, 2015 |
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Feb 23, 2015 14:22
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Hi there! I just came from London. I lived there for two months on my savings while I poked around looking for work and deciding if I wanted to stay. I had people calling me by the time I left, but I got fed up with it and decided I wanted to come home anyway.. there is a reason many English emigrate to Australia.. My last role was as a technical lead for Hewlett Packard. I have a degree and vendor certifications from Microsoft, Cisco and others. I have over a decade of experience at the highest levels of corporate and government computing. London HR people were incredibly awful. Rude and abrupt and generally loving terrible. I couldn't believe how they talked to me, how uninterested they were in doing their job. The whole English culture really rubbed me the wrong way too. Good luck with all that poo poo. gently caress London. edit: oh by the way I'm a dual citizen so I got a bank account on the first day and all that poo poo. Even with a silky smooth welcome to Old Blighty.. gently caress her.
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Feb 23, 2015 14:43
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The above few posts were what I was trying to say, but I don't think I was blunt enough. To move here you need to either have loads of money or a job+house already lined up.
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Feb 23, 2015 14:48
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I'm sorry, let me explain my situation so I can give you the whole picture. I will be moving there in about 3 months with 2k pounds and a friend. There is a service which some friends living over there have talked me about (where you pay a fee prior to arrival and they help you out setting a bank account). Before moving we would get an appointment at JobCentre Plus to get a NINO. As soon as we arrive, we would need to stay at the cheapest place possible, maybe couch surfing, maybe a hostel, I was looking towards you guys giving me some sort of info on that. As soon as we have the bank acouny and NINO, we would start looking up for jobs. I'm not sure how fast the employment market moves here, but right now I'm used to send about 100-200 CVs daily to get me working ASAP. I have worked in customer service and at a very important hotel, from which I have a recommendation letter. As soon as I get the job, we would start looking for somewhere to live, which is something I was expecting you would give us some info too. After I get established, I would start taking acting classes. I have been referenced to several, I still don't know what the schedule will be, but I'll probably attend the one who better suits my daily routine and budget. Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate cold hard truth, but sometimes I get nervous and defensive since this is a huge step for me. I would like advice on how to proceed to optimize our savings and to survive the process! Yggdrassil fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Feb 23, 2015 |
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Feb 23, 2015 17:03
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As you'll see from most the replies here, a lot of us already live in London so may not be the best people to ask on cheap housing (I know there is one goon living in a long term hostel situation but i'm not sure they'd want to be named or even frequent the site any more). Perhaps try finding some travel forums or something for references on that front. As for jobs. The job centre is a good start in getting your NI number and get on their books, at which point you will be given precisely ZERO opportunities at getting a job, they will try funnelling you into unpaid internships and volunteer work to get valuable career and interview experience (while stacking shelves at multinational supermarkets because we all know that's great experience for any career). You'd be better off signing up to any and all job agencies you can find, both big chain ones, and, once you find out where you'll be living, some local independent ones. You talk about sending off hundreds of emails a day, yeah, you'll be doing that here, along with the literally tens, if not hundreds of thousands of unemployed job seekers. When I returned from living 3 years abroad it took me 9 solid months of job hunting, sending out just as many cv's, signing up to all sorts of scams, sales pitches for training with no real job at the end, etc etc. And that's WITH qualifications and experience in my field, AND before we hit this global recession bullshit. So basically do not expect to find a job within a few days of looking, it can and will take weeks, if not months, and possibly years. Bar staff, wait staff, kitchen porters and house cleaners are gonna be your best bet (though house cleaning normally requires a car as you'd need to tote around all your own supplies). Come prepared with as many copies of your CV as you can print, get yourself a cheap PAYG mobile phone so any where you apply can contact you, and just start handing them things out in every bar, cafe, restaurant, whatever, you come across. Just remember, they would have already been handed 10 CV's that morning before you even got in there, so again, don't think that's a dead cert way of getting a job. Recommendation letters don't really mean poo poo over here, but personal recommendations go a long way. If you have any contact with someone in London already that works in a bar / restaurant chain, and they are hiring, you've a far better chance with that then cold calling anywhere. The ol' "it's not what you know, it's who you know" thing. As you'll be living in a hostel for the first few months you will have no way of storing perishable or frozen food, so your budget of 2k is gonna disappear VERY quickly when buying food daily, travelling to job hunt daily, getting back and forth to a Job Centre (I can guarantee getting a NI card is far harder than you think, you'll be going back and forth for a while before they tell you they've lost all your details and you need to start over), living costs, etc etc. All up I'd say your daily outgoing will be somewhere around £20 a day if you factor in travel, food, lodging and the occasional top up on a phone. And that's if you're super frugal and know exactly where you're going, what shops are where, don't get lost anywhere or stuck in the rear end end of town after buses / trains stop running. So with that said, you'd last 3 months at best on 2k. Though honestly, and more realistically, you could halve that due to the nature of London and it's ability to sap cash from your pocket in ways you've never imagined. If your end goal here is to attend an acting class in London you may fair far better looking to start off your life here in a town outside of London, getting yourself established, getting a paper trail going, and then dedicating 1 or 2 days a month on coming into the city to do the job / accommodation hunt. Places like Brighton, Portsmouth, Canterbury, all big student towns, all around 1-2 hours outside of the city by train, but the living costs are basically halved, you can walk around them towns with next to no public transport costs needed, you'll find cheaper housing, and generally wont get run through the poo poo mill that is city life in London.
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Feb 23, 2015 18:47
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dpack_1 posted:Stuff Very interesting, what about the job opportunities on those towns? I would still need to, eventually, move to London because of acting job opportunities, but if moving first to a smaller town in the periphery gives my plan more chance of succeeding, so much the better.
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Feb 23, 2015 19:21
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Ah right, 'acting job opportunities.' Now that you understand it will be impossible for you to move to London, it's time to start understanding that you will not make it as an actor in London, at least not a payed actor.
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Feb 23, 2015 19:28
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If you want to try and save some money on food, here you go.
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Feb 23, 2015 19:43
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Yggdrassil posted:Very interesting, what about the job opportunities on those towns? I would still need to, eventually, move to London because of acting job opportunities, but if moving first to a smaller town in the periphery gives my plan more chance of succeeding, so much the better. All the towns mentioned are very commutable for London, so if you did get gigs you wouldn't need to move. Most actors, presenters etc. don't actually live in London (unless they're a movie star). If you got a gig in a long running show the rent problem may solve itself, although... More than half of actors are under poverty line Have you watched Toast of London OP? I feel like you may appreciate it.
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Feb 23, 2015 20:00
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Yggdrassil posted:Very interesting, what about the job opportunities on those towns? I would still need to, eventually, move to London because of acting job opportunities, but if moving first to a smaller town in the periphery gives my plan more chance of succeeding, so much the better. They are all student towns, so the turn over of staff is much higher than those that absolutely need a regular paycheck in London. A lot of students just do jobs temporarily while it's term time, then quit to go back home for breaks. As you'll be getting here just around summer you will find a lot more opportunities for bar / shift work in a student town than you will in London. The commute is around 2 hours by train (but will cost you around £40-£50), or around 3-4 hours by bus / coach which can be had for under £10 if you shop around / book in advance. One major thing not really being factored in here is the cost of your acting class, I'll assume it isn't free (and if it is then it wouldn't be valued by any reputable scouting agency) so you're gonna be paying for this. Even local evening courses in things like photography can run up to £100's a month, it's a luxury that very few people can afford. You'd need to be saving for a VERY long time to even consider starting a course and then hope that you don't lose employment for the duration of said course as even those of us living here 'comfortably' can last maybe 10-30 days without income before we're homeless. London is a very scary knife edge to live upon.
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Feb 23, 2015 20:36
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Rolled Cabbage posted:All the towns mentioned are very commutable for London, so if you did get gigs you wouldn't need to move. Most actors, presenters etc. don't actually live in London (unless they're a movie star). If you got a gig in a long running show the rent problem may solve itself, although... More than half of actors are under poverty line That's interesting. Of course, i know about the normal living conditions of actors (i've read several books about the entertainment industry and networking for aspiring actors, and i recon that this is a problem worldwide, not just in the UK). However, im set on going for it in the UK, since i can't really act professionally in english here and i don't like the tv and cinema produced in Argentina. Acting classes are expensive, i see. Luckily i've already studied acting here, so i have what i need to start looking for opportunities once i get a job and establish myself.
Yggdrassil fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Feb 24, 2015 |
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Feb 24, 2015 03:43
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I want to laugh at you, but I know how important dreams are. I hope it works out for you.
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Feb 24, 2015 06:10
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Can the UK refuse entry to EU nationals who show up on a one-way ticket with no money or accommodation? You may want to work on your story for border control because this story is likely to get you on the first plane back home.
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Feb 24, 2015 07:21
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Arzakon posted:Can the UK refuse entry to EU nationals who show up on a one-way ticket with no money or accommodation? You may want to work on your story for border control because this story is likely to get you on the first plane back home. No. Open door policy for EU Nationals. This thread is ridiculous. Clueless goon moves halfway across the world to one of the most expensive, overly populated cities in the world with high unemployment and expects it all to be fine. £2k in London is the equivalent of about £800 in the rest of the UK. And £800 won't get you much in the rest of the UK either.
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Feb 24, 2015 10:20
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Haggis Heed posted:No. Open door policy for EU Nationals. I don't expect all to be fine, i already live in an overly populated city with even more unemployment than London and in a terrible country. I do appreciate a lot the effort of those that are trying to help me out, but if you are passing by just to ridicule me without even knowing my current situation or my reasons to go there, you should know you are wasting your time.
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Feb 24, 2015 12:18
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If you got a german passport and can speak german, it kinda looks like a superior place to live/work in.
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Feb 24, 2015 12:39
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Yggdrassil posted:I don't expect all to be fine, i already live in an overly populated city with even more unemployment than London and in a terrible country. I do appreciate a lot the effort of those that are trying to help me out, but if you are passing by just to ridicule me without even knowing my current situation or my reasons to go there, you should know you are wasting your time. Having spent some time in Buenos Aires and London, I think you'll be surprised how expensive London is compared to South America (even Sao Paulo at the height of the real) . Nobody is doubting your reasons to go, I think people are just cautioning you that your savings and earning potential will be rapidly overcome by expenses.
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Feb 24, 2015 13:21
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I've lived in London and I can tell you everyone in this thread is telling the truth. £2k will just about see you through 3 months in London on a very strict budget. I don't know what you'll use to pay for your classes. Forget London, go to Berlin. It's young, cheap, plenty of English-speaking actors there ready to give classes (incl. an English-language theatre scene) and your German language and passport will make life a lot easier. You will be able to live without needing to work on £2k for 4-5 months in Berlin - and you'll have fun! Seriously, London is a tough. You're really not going to enjoy it doing it the way you set out here.
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Feb 24, 2015 19:17
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